Thursday, November 6, 2008

...Spend Some Time Together...

Monday morning, Dave's dad picked up Dave and I and drove us to JFK airport. The flight to Miami was on a very large plane, and was completely packed. We had a couple of hour layover where we wandered around the terminal and ate some excellent Pizza Hut from an airport stand. The airline had overbooked the flight to Curacao and were offering huge deals to stay in Miami until the following day, but our stay had already been paid for so we couldn't wait. We arrived in Curacao just after dark and were loaded up onto a bus to the resort, along with many other honeymooning couples. We could barely see anything through the bus'** windows, and so didn't have any idea of the layout or scenery of the island.

When we arrived at the hotel, we approached the counter to check in, unsure of the language that would be spoken here. I have a good enough grasp of Spanish to get by, but Curacao is a Dutch island, a language I know nothing about. It turned out that nearly every employee of the hotel spoke English, Spanish, and Dutch, and it was no problem communicating to get checked in. We paid the extra fee for a room safe, and deposited our wallets and passports there. I think I only carried my wallet with me one other time during the entire trip. The room was clean, but felt rather bare, with white tile floors, a queen-sized bed, and a small couch and chair set. It was also an efficiency room, with a little stove and refrigerator, and built in table with chairs. We had paid a little bit extra to have an ocean-front room, and that's exactly what we were given, except that there was a giant trapeze net between the balcony and the actual ocean. It didn't allow for a great view, but at least there was somewhere of our own to sit outside. The bathroom was rather large, with a big shower that could easily fit more than one person (wink). We were starving after a long day of traveling with very little food, so we dropped our bags and headed to the dinner buffet.

At first, we were hesitant to try the food. Everything was scary looking, and it included many items that weren't labeled or that we had never heard of. We both ate only a little bit that night, but every single thing was very good, and we agreed to try everything they had the next day. We picked up a couple of drinks from the bar next to the main pool, crowded with drinkers and children, and went for a walk around the resort. It consisted of many smaller buildings, with many rooms setup motel-style, centrally located around a courtyard with no balconies or ocean views. There were cages sprinkled throughout the grounds filled with large tropical birds and turtles. A breakwater of huge stones and coral had been made around a large area of beach, creating a calm lagoon between the sand and the actual ocean. The beach was deserted, so we lounged around on the chairs for a little while, staring up at the moon and chatting. Then we continued our tour, and found another hotel building at the opposite end of the resort. It was three stories high and u-shaped, with a large rectangular swimming pool in the center. The pool was also deserted, and we agreed to go get our bathing suits on and go for a swim. It took longer to walk back and get changed than we had anticipated, but there was still no one at the pool when we returned. We had a leisurely swim together in the warm water, then headed back to our room and collapsed for the night.

On Tuesday morning, I woke up with a full-blown sinus infection. We were on our honeymoon in a foreign country where the weather was gorgeous, and I was miserable. Over the next four days, we lounged on the beautiful beach, went for many swims in the crystal clear pool and even warmer ocean, kayaked, ate and drank. It's all basically a blur of congestion, heat, and sun. At one point, we walked a ways to a sea aquarium, which was fun, and one afternoon we took a cab to the nearby city of Willemstad to look around. Otherwise, we just hung around at the hotel and relaxed. I tried so hard to stay upbeat, but it was difficult when I felt so terrible. Dave told me over and over again that he didn't mind; he had only planned to relax anyway. :-(

**I actually had to look up whether the possessive of bus should be bus' or bus's. In the end, there is disagreement over which is actually correct, so they are both accepted.